Out of the "slammer"... for this time around!

Well, that is at least how I feel sometimes.... I guess overall, it's a good place to go to get better!  Thanks for everyone's cards, love, prayers and support during my convalescence.  My doctor told me that I must be "very patient because I do Calligraphy and know what it takes to SLOWLY learn a craft like that!" He only sees me for a maximum of 5 minutes per day, though, and usually I am "primed" to see him as he calls or emails (LOL! Seriously he did that once this time) me to give me a head's up! So, I imagine his perception of me is a little skewed from what I am really like "the rest of the time" in the slammer... day after day.. treatment after treatment, hour after hour... minute after minute. I guess he is right, although I don't necessarily think I get it from "practicing calligraphy".  Good things in life come to those who wait, right? That is what I have always known and felt... but the "age of the microwave" really makes one want to HURRY everything up.  Well, you don't learn to play the piano overnight, learn calligraphy, nor GET better in a heartbeat!  Antibiotics and therapy need to take their course and "all in due time".   I actually didn't mind this time too much, but the timing of it all really sucked!   I was hoping that I could hold off and plan a visit to Club Med in October when things were a little slower.  The fact that I came in on oxygen again and it took awhile to wean off of it, I caught a 24 stomach bug that wiped me out a whole day with the entire gambit of "loss of fluids", if you get my drift, which left me dehydrated and the rest of the repercussions that go hand in hand with a two weak reaming of one's digestive system, I think I bounced back rather NICELY.  I was discharged with a script in hand for home oxygen... PRN.  I hope I don't have to use it, but we will play that one by ear.

Since the first calligraphy meeting of the year was the 7th, I knew I would have to miss it being hospitalized from the 1st through the 15th), but I guess it wasn't meant to be that I missed it, 'cause on that day... there was torrential rainfall and I had to make the decision to "call it off"...  We've postponed it to later in the month, so I guess I will be at the FIRST meeting afterall... Amazing how things like that work out! This is what I saw outside my hospital room's window on the 7th...

I always bring some of my calligraphy supplies and lay them on the windowsill in case I get the urge to be creative while I am in there and to no fail, I always get someone asking me if I am an artist.  I usually just say "I'm a Calligrapher" and leave it at that.  Well,  one respiratory therapist told another gal (cyster) with CF, down the hall, that I was did that for a "living" and she came to visit me... toting the newest fashion, in urine-yellow--an isolation mask and gown.  Come to find out, we have SO much in common.  We will be getting together shortly to talk about a calligraphy project that she wants me to create for her as well as for the Miss Teen Nationals 2010 which will be held in Austin in October.  It was so funny how she mentioned it in passing.  We both found it quite peculiar that we were contacted by the judging coordinator from Pennsylvania and asked to submit an application to be chosen as 1 of 12 judges for the pageant.  I honestly thought it was a scam, but when I wrote her back and asked her "Why on Earth would they want a Calligrapher to be a judge at the contest?", she promptly wrote me back with this: I was searching under "invitations" in your area and you showed up.  I contacted you to judge, because I thought this could be a way to get exposure to your business as well as we want successful, professionals in the community. Many of the girls will be graduating and may be in need of calligraphy services for invitations and more. 


So, I am officially a Judge for two days....doing interviews and judging casual and formal attire. At least I will be feeling great and healthy for that... Anyway... to get back to what I was saying before... Amanda.... although she is much younger than I am, honestly thought I was closer to her age than I am.  I guess it's the "smallness" in my stature and frame.  People always have thought... "you're so cute", like I am a little girl.  UGH!  I guess it pays off in the end. She has her own business here in Austin and does make up for models and brides.  Check her out: www.glossedbyamanda.com

I am back home, now, with my honey and puppies... It's is heavenly divine.  You don't realize what you have till it is taken away from you.  Being in New York for almost 2 weeks for my sister's wedding which I left on the 11th of August, returning very sickly on the 23rd, spending the week trying to recover on my own and then another two weeks in Club Med, makes it feel like it's been a whole MONTH since I have been away.  My house is feeling it, for sure. I am in need of finding someone dependable to help me out with the cleaning, but I always "cave" and end up cleaning it myself.  It's a major task, though, when I start feeling a little lower on the energy level. "A little every day...all in moderation" I keep telling myself. (This was my hospital room... naturally before I felt good enough to "do a little housecleaning". Notice a trend here....LOL! All the "comforts of home" including, pillow, quilt, coffee maker, lots of water to hydrate, visine... to hydrate eyes... nail polish? Well, a girl's gotta keep up her appearances, ya know... pulse oximeter behind water and my two Godsend's--to keep me united with the real, outside world MY COMPUTER and PHONE/earbud. I don't know what I did before I had the ability to keep in touch with email and blogs...)

Since I've been sprung,though, I have attended a House Concert at some friends' home (most excellent www.jimhurst.com), been to my favorite eating establishment--Chuy's, at least two times, lost count, maybe more.... volunteered at the University Co Op and the Paradise Pen Company calligraphing bookmarks with my CCS cronies, been to the outlets, rode my bike some, experienced some more torrential rains in the area...I love it when it rains here 'cause it just opens up and COMES down in buckets.. then it's done... much like our snowstorms. AND soo much more.   SLEPT in my bed for afternoon naps with my puppies. I sure do LONG for that luxury when I am away!  They snuggle so nicely.  Thanks to my ROCK, Kevin, for doing everything he could and THEN SOME, to ensure that everything got done in the home, with the doggies and all else LIFE entails...when you lose a partner for a period of time. I'm sure HE IS really glad I am back!!  I know I am ecstatic!

Oh, I HAD to take a picture of this... it was, by far, my favorite meal that "came to me" on my ill-faring tray while in there.... First of all, I don't think a NORMAL person with a healthy appetite could eat this much... and although these rubbery, condensated pancakes don't hold a candle to IHOP's (my favorite), they were presented so nicely and totally stacked in there that I felt I HAD to snap a picture.  I ate two... and two pieces of bacon. What a waste!  Oh well....  'nuf said about my trip away from home.  I am just happy I am back where I belong all along. Caio!